My New Found Love

I have been running for over 2 years now and have wanted to start a running blog for about the same amount of time. I haven't been able to find the time, but I have decided to make the time since running has become such an important part of my life. I started running in an unconventional way. I've always wanted to be a runner, but I just needed that push. In June of 2009 I watched 2 of my friends leave for the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. I mentioned to one of them that I really wanted to do that next year. You have to sign up for this race a year in advance. So after my friend was nice enough to take me seriously (although at the point I had registered for Wasatch Back Ragnar 2010, I had not even run around the block), I found myself committed to this crazy race. Upon registering, the team needed to know my 10K pace. I told my friend I had never run a 10K and she told me to take my 5K pace and double it. Well, I had never run a 5K either. I even had to use google to find out how far a 5K was. I was determined to tell my team my pace as soon as possible, so I got on my treadmill a couple days later and ran 3.1 miles. I didn't even know what a good pace was, so I pushed myself so I didn't have to tell them a slow pace. I ran 3.1 miles so hard that I made myself throw up. My pace was just under a 10 minute mile, but it's the farthest I had ever run. As soon as my friends started training for Wasatch Back 2010, they invited me to come along. I didn't sleep at all the night before. I was so worried I'd hold them back and they'd become frustrated with me. I didn't have the right shoes and they all had their Garmin watches, shoes they had been fit for and other running necessities. They were so nice to coach me to get me some of my own custom fit shoes, a watch and more. I got so I really enjoyed heading out for a run with my friends. My favorite things about running are that it made me feel productive and I saw many more things running than I did while driving. I really enjoyed getting to know my neighborhood this way. As soon as I felt the runner's high, I was hooked for good! I'm so grateful I was able to find this new found love that I'm so passionate about!